Thomas Björn returns to the KLM Open for the first time since 2010 looking to get his competitive juices flowing ahead of The Ryder Cup later this month.
Björn qualified for Europe’s Team at Gleneagles to earn a third appearance in the biennial contest against America and first since 2002.
The 43 year old Dane is keen to ensure he is at his best when Captain Paul McGinley calls on him, and feels the best way to sharpen his game is to get into contention come Sunday at Kennemer Golf & Country Club.
“It is an event that you always really want to come and play in,” Björn said on his return to The Netherlands.
“It has such great tradition and a great place within the tradition of The European Tour, for the amount of years it has been running and the players who have won it.
“It’s not fitted in my schedule for a few years but this year I felt like I’m in a position where I need to play a bit of tournament golf and get myself ready for a couple of weeks’ time. I didn’t play particularly well last week but my game is improving and I’m using these weeks to get my game ready.
“You are playing a golf tournament and you are trying to get yourself in there on Sunday. It’s a process at the moment for me, but I’m glad to be here and I’m looking forward to it. It has been a while, so it is nice to be back.”
Björn always looked on course to qualify automatically after his Nedbank Golf Challenge victory in December, but as a host of players made late surges only a top-five finish at the Made in Denmark on home soil guaranteed the 15-time European Tour winner his return to the team after a 12-year absence.
“It’s brilliant,” he added. “You go through the qualifying process and there is so much going on in your head. You obviously try to put it at a distance but it is always there.
“You are always asked questions. Once that is over you have to come down a little bit and then build yourself up again. It’s a mentally tough time because the last few events of qualifying are big events.
“It’s draining so you have to come down and build yourself up to the level again. I’m using these weeks to get myself ready and hopefully in the process of that I can play some decent stuff. There’s always a balance of how you do that. Some guys take the time off and go in fresh. I like to be on a run of tournaments and I normally play well on the back end of a run. I felt like I needed to play some events and get out there and be competitive. That’s always my problem after a break - I might play well but I don’t feel competitive.
“The mind might not be competitive enough, so I felt like I wanted to play events. The danger is if you don’t play well you can play yourself out of confidence. It is there at the moment as it has been a good year. I’m just trying to get in there with a chance to win tournaments and have that confidence going into the Ryder Cup.”
